My Life with an Alien Brother
by Spectre Omnitrix 5085
Summary: Ben Tennyson had lost everything he had loved. But when he saved Global Response Unit XJ9 from danger, he finds himself being adopted into a new family. Can he return to a life which he thought he'd never experience again? Ben isn't sure, but he's willing to try.
1. Chapter One

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**_The idea for this story was born when I found my toy Omnitrix while going through some boxes. Yes, this all thanks to a toy. XD_**

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**CHAPTER ONE**

It started when an alien device did what it did.

Those familar words that he had sung when he had found the Omnitrix played through his mind.

Anger flooded his conscious. He couldn't believe how naïve he had been, how foolish he had been. He should've known the consequences of having such power. Yet he had decided to ignore them. Tetrax was right. He wasn't going hero for others. He was going hero for the fun of it. Ben understood now.

But it was too late anyway.

He couldn't reverse time, he couldn't repair what Vilgax had destroyed. He couldn't bring them back.

Ben looked at the accursed device that had caused so much of his pain and heartache. The device that he once loved, was now the object of which he despised.

Those days of fun and carelessnes had come with the price of years of heartache.

If Ben had known so, he wouldn't have interfered with Vilgax, maybe that way, he could have postponed all this for at least a few years.

But no, he _had_ interfered. He _had_ used the Omnitrix for his personal gain. And in doing so, had resulted in the destruction of everything he loved, and everything he had stood for.

His parents were no longer there to support him as he matured.

His grandfather was no longer there to help him enjoy his youth.

His cousin was no longer here to annoy him.

All of them had been murdered by _Vilgax_.

That day, Ben had understood.

He understood the virtues of heroes and why they fought. That day he understood what heroes were, and why they faced hardships. That day, Ben Tennyson died.

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**1 Year Later**

Ben Tennyson, now 11 years old, looked around his new homeroom. He had started attending School, and this was his first year at Tremorton Middle School. He eyed his classmates, ruling out the populars and unpopulars instantly. The teacher, Mr. Robert entered the class.

"Good morning class, I'm your home room teacher, Mr. Robert, before I do anything else, I'd like to go through the register first."

He took a sheet of paper and started calling of names one by one.

Ben gave a barely audible 'here' when his name was mentioned. Though he perked up when he heard the name-

"Tuck Carbunkle."

He looked around and spotted the kid. He instantly recognised him. Tuck Carbunkle was the younger brother of Brad Carbunkle, whom was best friends with the Global Response Unit XJ9. Everyone that lived in Tremorton knew her.

"Here." He said. He was a short young boy with black hair, a red shirt with a horizontal black stripe on the middle and wore blue pants.

The class then proceeded, and Ben had to turn his attention towards the teacher.

* * *

**After School**

As students piled out from the entrance, signalling the end of the first day of school, Ben found himself sitting on a bench in the Tremorton park, enjoying the fresh air and the soothing sounds of life.

All this was ruined when a metal robot smashed into the ground in front of him.

"Sorry!" She stated and proceeded to fly into the air towards a legion of Cluster droids.

Out of the corner of his peripherals, he saw a redhead with a white shirt and black vest running toward the battle yelling "You can do it Jenny!"

Usually XJ9 always won, whether by using her weaponary, her intellectual skills, or even by pure luck.

This time though, Ben could see that she wasn't faring so well against what he thought was, an army of elite Cluster droids.

XJ9 once again got sent flying, and crashed into the road, creating a small crater where she landed.

She looked damaged, with dents and the occasional spark. "Finally, I will defeat XJ9 and rule this world!" Vexus cheered.

"No you won't!" Ben heard XJ9 yell.

He felt nostalgic. He remembered himself in her shoes, fighting who knows what and saying those same exact words.

And, even though he had made a personal oath, he pressed the button on the Omnitrix.

The faceplate popped out and the familiar silhouettes appeared.

The fire of a hero once again reignited within Ben's soul. Vexus, Brad, XJ9 and even the droids were surprised when they saw a flash of green light.

They layed there eyes upon an alien with brownish red rocks for skin, underneath which fire burned brightly. Its head was on fire, and a skull like face was in the middle of it.

"**HEATBLAST!" **

The flame creature shot a ball of flame at Vexus, sending here flying. He then proceeded to shoot more fire balls at the droids.

"Who's that?" Brad asked as he helpes Jenny up. "Don't know, but it looks like he's on our side." She answered. At least, that was what she hoped. Because if she was to fight against that thing while in the condition she was in now, well, lets hope it won't come to that.

Ben was rusty, he knew from the first fire ball he had thrown at Vexus. He couldn't make a hot enough fireball to melt the droids, whom were immune to flames, from the looks of it. All he was really doing was keeping them at bay. He couldn't fight them off all alone due to his lack of experience. He looked at XJ9. Ben hated to ask others for help, but he'd just have to do it this once.

"XJ9!" He called. She looked at him, understood immediately and started blasting them off with her only functioning laser cannon.

Due to the droids shields and attention being focused primarily on Heatblast, the laser cannon, which could not destroy their shields, easily hit their unprotected backside, effectively destroying them.

Using the limited time she had, Jenny fired her laser cannons without any delay, missing only once. She was grateful that this, Heatblast guy or whatever he was had showed up, because she was starting to get clobbered by these droids.

Eventually the droids regrouped and decided to attack instead of defend.

Heatblast dived for cover as they unleashed a rain of lazers at him. He ducked behind a tree and charged up a big fireball.

Leaping out of shelter, he threw the ball of flame at them, effectively destroying the remaining ones.

And just in time too, as Vexus returned.

"No! You insolent flame headed fool! I was so close to conquering the Earth and enslaving XJ9! You have made a powerful enemy today, whoever you are.

She clawed the air, and a portal appeared. With a look of pure evil she stepped through the portal and disappeared.

"Thanks." Ben looked at XJ9.

"Your welcome."

Just then, the Omnitrix dial on his chest started blinking red, and before Ben could do anything, he was back to normal with a flash of red light.

"Huh?" Brad asked. "Who are you?"

Before Ben could do anything though, he passed out from exhaustion, the full force of what he had just gone through taking its toll on him.

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**_Hope you guys enjoyed. Be sure to comment your ideas and what you thought of this OK?_****_Updates will happen when they happen, probably around a week or so. So please bear with me._**


	2. Chapter Two

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**_Another chapter. Yay!_**

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**CHAPTER TWO**

Jenny looked at the sleeping brunette. He was breathing peacefully, a look of calm and prosperity evident on his features. Despite the fact that she didn't know anything about this strange boy, she found herself smiling.

Yet, when she thought about his ability to transform, a scrutinizing look appeared on her face. She didn't know anything about this boy, for all she knew, he could be dangerous. To her, her family and friends, maybe even the world.

But she didn't know for sure, and she wasn't willing to overreact this time. She had her fair share of overreacting for a lifetime. So, following Brad and her mother's advice, she had resorted to keeping a constant vigil over the boy, instead of doing what she would of done if she had overreacted.

* * *

**Flashback**

_Jenny and Brad were quite for a few seconds, staring at the knocked out boy on the damp grass. Brad turned to look at her, she regarded him with a scrutinizing look._

_"Did he just-?"_

_"Yup."_

_Brad then asked her another question. "What do we do with him?" Jenny stayed silent for a few more minutes, then replied with a reluctant sigh. "I-I don't know."_

_Eventually, her mother contacted her. The television screen within Jenny's chest cavity popped out, and her mother's face appeared. "XJ9? What's the situation over there? Is everything OK? My, you look like you need a repair!"_

_Her creator's voice snapped her out of the daze she was in. Hurriedly, she explained everything to her mother, whom had to ask her to slow down. Once her mother was informed of the latest events, Nora started mumbling. "Mom?" Jenny asked. "Bring the lad home, I'll have to investigate, and of course, I think he needs some medical aid."_

_With that, the computer screen disappeared into her chest cavity once more._

_Jenny looked at Brad. "Think you can fly?" The redhead asked him. Jenny did a quick systems check, and luckily, her flight systems were still operational. (Just not at optimal levels)._

_She raised the boy and put him on her shoulder, and then blasted off, her ponytail jets leaving exhaust in their wake._

* * *

That had been a few hours ago, and in that small duration, her mother had made sure the mysterious saviour was in a healthy state, then she had moved onto inspecting for any weapon/device that could potentially allow him to transform.

During the search, Nora had come across a black box like watch, with white tubes and a green faceplate. She immediately deduced it to be the source of his alien transformation(s) (she didn't know if there were multiple transformations yet.)

Nora then took on the task of repairing her robotic daughter which was a hindrance, as her daughter had gotten quite a 'beat down'. "Honestly XJ9, if you keep getting damage of this magnitude, I don't know if you'll survive."

After that had been taken care of, Nora had gone down to her lab and Jenny hadn't seen her since.

Now, hours later, Jenny was getting bored. The boy wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, and she was losing valuable hang time with her friends. And where the heck was Brad anyway? He did say he was going to meet her here with Tuck.

She sighed, annoyed. Could this get any less _boring_?

At some point, she had left for a can of oil, and when she returned, the boy was awake.

"Ohhh, my head." He said, rubbing his scalp. "Feels like I've taken a beat down by Vilgax."

He then regarded her. "Oh, your that robot girl, XJ9 right?" Jenny nodded. "And you are?" She asked in return. "Ben."

"Well, I should get going-" As Ben started to get up, Jenny extended her arm and pushed him down to the sofa. "Not until you tell me how you transformed, and I need to know if your dangerous." Ben rose an eyebrow. "Fine." He grumbled as she stared at him with a look of cold resolution. "Mom!" Ben watched as a woman with white hair, red goggles and orange lab coat appeared. "Yes is he awake XJ9?" She then saw him. "Oh, hello-?" "Ben." The 11 year old told her. "Hello, Ben, I am Dr Noreen Wakeman, but you can call me Ms. Wakeman. Before I allow you to leave, I must ask for you to tell me how you transformed." Jenny coughed. "Oh and if your dangerous or not." She added hastily.

_This is going to be a looong day._ Ben thought.

* * *

**Hours Later**

Ben groaned. "Are you done yet?" He asked Ms. Wakeman. "Yes, thank you Ben." The scientist rushed off with the new set of fresh data. "She never thanks _me_." Jenny grumbled. "Can I go now?" Ben asked impatiently. "Oh yeah, sure. I'll fly you there, its the least I can do after the, uh, _testing_ you had just gone through."

Ben shook his head. "It's OK I can walk there on my own." He turned towards the door. "No, I insist." Jenny said. It wasn't just because of kindness she was offering to give the boy a ride. It was to see where he was going, and along the way, she might be able to deduce if he's a villain or not. Sure Ben had told her himself that he wasn't one, but that's just what _all_ villains typically say when they are questioned about their villainy. Well, not all, she could recall a few that had been proud to announce themselves as villains.

Ben seemed reluctant, but he agreed. Jenny took off with the boy on her back, clinging on for dear life.

"I think I left my bag at the park." Ben told her through gritted teeth. She changed her direction of flight and landed down in the park a few minutes later.

Ben grabbed his bag, where it lay discarded in the bushes. And they took of towards his home. Jenny could sense the boy getting rigid and his heart seemed to be thumping faster. Inwardly she grinned. _Maybe he is a villain after all. _The reasom for her suspicions of Ben was, because she had been played by her enemies more than _once _due to her gullibility.

"There." Ben pointed down. Jenny slowed her jets but instead of landing she hovered over the building instead. "But, that's an orphanage." She said, surprised. "Yes." Ben said, as if the truth was plain simple.

They landed. "Thanks for the ride." Ben said and started walking towards the building. "Don't you have a family?" Jenny asked and immediately regretted it. Ben stopped dead in his tracks. The streetlight made the shadows around him turn eerie and even though she didn't possess nerve endings, she could feel the temperature go down.

Ben turned around. Jenny was surprised to see a smile on his face. Though she could see it didn't reach his eyes, which were clouded with emotion. "Even if you have powers, you can't save everyone...its, the most hardest thing you can ever go through. Losing someone when you could have saved them. Its part of being a hero I guess." The brunette turned around and walked inside the foster home.

Jenny stood on the street alone. She stayed there for a long time before she blasted off into the sky.


	3. Chapter Three

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**_So, I just had to blurt this out, which one of you guys think that Ben 10 could beat Saitama from One Punch Man?_**

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**CHAPTER THREE**

Ben gloomily shut the door behind him. He leaned against it for awhile, and a few minutes later, he heard the now familiar sounds of jets. He waited till they were gone before he moved. The boy walked inside the living room, and he could hear the other orphans playing around inside.

As he opened the door, Ben saw that one of the officials were reading a story to a bunch of toddlers, whilst kids his age enjoyed some outdated comics and magazines. "Hey Ben!" A short 8 year old with blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes called him. He had introduced himself as Sam and Ben rather liked his company.

"Wanna join us?" Sam motioned to his buddies, whom were 5 to 7 years old. They seemed to be playing some sort of a role playing game. "Not now, I have homework to do." He declined. "Oh," Sam's expression turned sad. "Well you're free to join when your done!"

Ben fondly shook his head, Sam was the only one in this entire building that actually gave him space, and Ben was grateful for that.

The brunette walked up the stairs toward the bedrooms. There were eight bedrooms, each with four bunk beds. Ben shared a bunk with a quiet timid boy named Mark. Ben didn't see anyone in the room, and he guessed the other occupants were either in the backyard, or in the living room.

He sat his school bag down on the floor. He shouldn't even be _attending _school, but his parents had left behind a _small _fortune. But since he was underage, he couldn't really do anything with it. So he had begged the manager of the orphanage to use that money for his education, it's what his parents would have wanted.

Now though, Ben lay down on the bottom bunk. He remembered the words he had just uttered to Jenny. In a way, he had been secretly hoping that _they_ weren't dead, that _they_ were still alive, somehow.

But hearing himself say those words, had finally extinguished that small candle of hope.

Ben had truly given up. He felt tears well up in his eyes.

_They're gone, there's nothing to hope for. You said it yourself, you couldn't save them._

Ben pulled the covers upto his chest. He turned to his side, and cried.

That night, he cried himself to sleep. He's dreams were ink black, nothing existed there. No happy memories, no agonizing nightmares and heartwrenching sadness. Ben was no longer happy, nor sad, it seemed he was in the "grey" area, so to speak.

* * *

**Next Day**

Ben woke up to the alarm clock blaring. He and the other occupants groaned and rubbed their eyes as they woke up. While the other kids went down for breakfast, Ben did a quick inspection of his essay that he had to turn in today. Yesterday may have been the first day of school, but the teachers weren't going to go easy on him.

He got ready for the day and was out on the street in no time, walking swiftly towards his school.

"Hey Ben!" A familiar voice called out to him. Ben turned around and saw Jenny walking towards him with Tuck and Brad.

"Hi Jenny." He muttered. "Is this the kid that can transform into aliens?" Tuck regarded Ben with a look of disbelief. "Yeah Tuck, Ben can transform into an awesome fire ball throwing flame alien! Right Ben?" The 11 year old gave a weary nod. Jenny noticed how tired he looked and immediately changed the subject. "So Ben, you go to Tremorton Middle School with Tuck? He said your in his homeroom."

Ben nodded again. "How about you? You're in middle school too?" Ben asked. Jenny laughed. "No, me and Brad go to highschool." "Say Ben," Ben looked at Brad. "Wanna maybe hang later today after school? If your not busy we could go to the skate park down by the mall, or Mezmers."

Ben had nothing to do today so he agreed. "Sure, I'm down." He said smiling. They reached Ben and Tuck's school. "See you guys later!" Brad said. Ben and Tuck waved back. "So Ben, what kind of aliens can you transform into?" The brunette grinned. This was just so familiar. Sam had asked those exact questions when he saw Ben turn into XLR8 for a run through Tremorton. Sam had reacted differently from the others, in fact, he didn't freak out, and even offered to keep it a secret, which Ben was relieved to hear. (Though, no one would believe the 8 year old anyway.)

At lunch time, Ben recalled his experiences with the Omnitrix even if he turned somber at some points. Tuck didn't notice, he was interested in all the action and not the hardships. Ben smiled fondly, he remembered that he used to be as immature and egotistical as Tuck was. Not anymore though, Ben had experienced things that had helped him move past that. He was no longer the Ben he _used _to be.

That Ben had died a _long_ time ago.

* * *

As the final bell sounded, students filtered out of the main doors, chatting about their plans for today. Ben and Tuck waited by the sidewalk for Brad and Jenny, conversing to each other about Mr. Williams and his _Quizzes of Horror_.

"Tuck! Ben!" The duo turned around, and found Brad and Jenny waiting for them. "Where should we go first?" Brad asked. "You guys go on ahead, I'll go see what new items they have at the dump." Tuck said while his facial expression turned into a sinister, evil look. He laughed evilly. Brad stared for a second, then simply dismissed his younger brother with an "OK". Ben stared quizzically at Tuck as he rushed off. "Don't ask." Jenny told him. "Believe me, you don't wanna know."

The three then started walking, discussing where to go. "I vote we go to that new store at the mall, Flunky Funky. I heard they sold the best, vests around." Brad said. "I've heard that the latest _Teen Weekly_ magazine had come out." Jenny suggested. "So, the mall?" Ben asked. "Yup, the mall it is!" Brad said as he melodramatically pointed in the direction of it.

As the redhead started doing some weird funky dance/walk, Ben looked at Jenny with a questioning look. She shrugged.

When they arrived at the mall, Ben stopped dead in his tracks.

One of the stores featured a new Sumo Slammers rare limited edition collectors item. Ben gazed at it fondly, but remembering that he was flat out broke at the moment. (the orphanage gave him his new clothes, food and pretty much everything, even if they were really cheap.) The brunette turned towards the teens. "So where do we go now?" Jenny looked at Brad, hoping he had seen the longing look on Ben's face. But, as usual, the redhead was too busy with something else.

"Hey Brad, why don't you take Ben down to the cafeteria and buy yourselves some ice cream? I'll catch up with you later." The blue and white robot girl said and disappeared.

"OK Ben, lemme introduce you to the wonders of cold beverages!" Brad said. Ben laughed.

* * *

**Cafeteria**

Ben and Brad sat at a table, Brad drinking a milkshake, and Ben a smoothie. The brunette had complained that he didn't need Brad to spend money on him, but the redhead had insisted, and, begrudgingly Ben had ordered the cheapest smoothie available.

"Hey guys." They looked up to see Jenny walking towards them with a bunch of shopping bags. "Hey Jen." Brad greeted. Ben nodded in acknowledgement. "What's in the bags?" Brad gestured at them. "I went shopping, oh and Ben this is for you."

The Omnitrix wielder gave a questioning look as Jenny handed him one of the bags. He took out what was inside.

Wrapped in plastic was a platinum coloured Sumo Slammer card.

Ben's eyes widened but he shook his head. "You shouldn't have." He said. Jenny looked puzzled. "Well, we did come here for shopping, and since you wanted one of these so bad, I thought I'd get you one, besides you saved my life, it's the least I could do." She said.

Ben smiled. "Thanks." "Hey, what are friends for?" Brad winked.

They were back on the sidewalk, walking towards the park. Brad inhaled and exhaled loudly. "Just smell that fresh air!" He said. "Hey guys look what I found!" Ben, Jenny and Brad turned around to see Tuck holding a dented chainsaw.

"Tuck where did you find that?!" Brad asked. "More importantly get away from that thing!"

Tuck activated it. "It still works!" He exclaimed. Ben laughed as Tuck and Brad fought, Brad demanding that Tuck put the machine back down while Tuck used it to destroy his homework.

Jenny sighed. "I'll be right back." She said grimly.

Ben watched in amusement as Jenny wrestled the destructive and dangerous chainsaw from a clingy Tuck.

Suddenly a roar thundered. Ben covered his ears as he looked up into the eyes of a giant metal dragon.

The dragon was flying on graceful metal wings, and then it opened its jaws to spew fire on the ground below.

Trees and people blazed with orange and yellow flames, and the dragon came back for another round.

Jenny moved to intercept it, using her Fists Of Fury to knock it out of the sky. She looked at Ben. "You have an alien that can put these fires out?" She asked hastily. Ben nodded. With the task of controlling the fire being taken care of, XJ9 turned towards the dragon.

Meanwhile, Ben looked around for an alleyway to hide in. He ducked inside one and, making sure that the coast was clear, he went for the button on the Omnitrix. But his hand stopped.

Ben wasn't sure he was ready to get back to the hero stuff, last time it was to save Jenny, so she could save the others. _But if you don't do anything, then that_ makes _you worse than Vilgax._

Ben closed his eyes. He can do this. "It's Hero Time!" There was a flash of green light.

Brad didn't know where Ben went, but he was trying to keep the fire from spinning out of control, he just hoped Jenny or Ben could put the fire out soon, he himself knew that his efforts did nothing.

Suddenly a green goo put out the flames on a tree. Brad looked up at a human sized insect like thing. It had six green feet, two green arms, an arrow like tail and insect wings. Its face was black and projecting out of the sides were four eye stalks, two on each side.

"Ben?" Brad asked. The insect like thing nodded. "What's that alien? Bizarro Bug?"

"Stinkfly!" He replied. "Brad, get civilians away from here, I'll put the fire out!" Stinkfly flew off. "You got it!" Brad said. "Action Brad, to the rescue!" The redhead ran off.

Stinkfly shot its sticky green substance at the fires, putting them out effectively. Within a matter of minutes, he was done. And it seemed like Brad had got the civilians away as well. Now for the dragon. Stinkfly flew towards the last place he had seen Jenny and the dragon.

He arrived to see that Jenny had already dismantled the mechanical beast and she didn't even look damaged. "Ben?" She asked. Stinkfly nodded. "Don't worry, I took care of the dragon, how's the situation with the fire?" "Fires are out. No one got hurt, Brad made sure of that." Ben said. The two was surprised when a beeping caught their attention. The Omnitrix badge was blinking red. "Uh oh." Ben managed to blurt out before he transformed back to normal, and without wings for flight, he started to fall.

Luckily Jenny caught him. "Thanks." Ben said. They landed on the ground and Ben spotted something engraved on one of the pieces or the dragon's hide.

He knelt down to study it easier. It was a logo, in the shape of a shield with red and yellow squares with the infinity symbol in the middle. Ben's heart skipped a beat.

"No, no, no." He muttered. "Ben? What's wrong?" Jenny asked, concerned. "They're looking for me, they're after me. Why can't they just leave me alone? How did they know I was here? I-"

"BEN!" Jenny shook his shoulders. He stared at her. "Who's after you?" She asked.

Ben looked straight into her optics. "The Forever Knights."

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**_Hope you guys enjoyed! Be sure to review and tell me what you guys think. See you all in the next chapter!_**


	4. Chapter Four

**_Hey guys I'm back with another chapter. So far, I'm pleased with how the story is progressing, though, the chapters may be subject to changes at any given moment. (Most likely after the story is complete). _****_Also _****_I'd like to point out that in the previous chapter, when Ben talked about his experiences with the Omnitrix, he didn't include anything about Gwen or Max, or anything about his family/friends._**

**_Likewise when Ben had explained to Nora about the Omnitrix he didn't include his family and that he was on a trip. Anyways lets continue_**

**_(Warning: Contains mild swearing)_**

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**CHAPTER FOUR**

Ben had decided to call it a day. He apologized, and they had insisted that he stayed around a little longer, but the young hero just couldn't wrap his thoughts around what had just happened. The Forever Knights had sent that dragon after him. He just _knew_ it. Why else would their insignia be engraved on the metal dragon?

Ben honestly thought they had given up. After all, the past year had been quiet. _But that's only because you didn't do any hero work. _That was true. This all happened due to him transforming into Heatblast to help Jenny.

He didn't blame her, he didn't even blame the Omnitrix. He blamed _himself_. If he hadn't meddled about with the Forever Knights in the first place, then he wouldn't have made their hit list. Ben walked into his bedroom. He threw the bag away and sat down.

In fact, if he hadn't taken the Omnitrix that day, _none _of this would have happened. He'd rather take Algebra over Vilgax anyday. He'd rather have his parents ground him than fight Hex. He'd rather _die_ than use the Omnitrix.

"Dammit! Dammit!" Ben punched the wall next to him. He ignored the pain. "DAMMIT!" He yelled and punched the wall even harder. Out of pure rage, Ben started slamming the Omnitrix against the wall, harder and harder, wanting it to break, wanting it to get off his wrist. Wanting it to get out of his _life_.

But the device was practically indestructible, and even with all of his strength, the damned device just wouldn't _break!_

He gave up. His arm ached. He looked at the device. "Why do you do this to me?" He started crying. "Why did you have to ruin my life?" He asked it. He got no response.

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**Next Day**

Ben hadn't joined them on their walk to school. Tuck noted. Heck, Ben hadn't even shown up for homeroom either. And when lunch time had rolled around, Tuck saw no signs of the Omnitrix-wielder.

This didn't upset the 11 year old. Brad had told him that Ben might not want to talk to him, or even want to come to school today, as he had found out that one of his old enemies were still after him. And, Tuck had figured that Ben would rather stay home. After all that's just what any kid would want.

* * *

Ben didn't bother to go to school today, he was just drained of energy. Both mentally and physically. He had a rough time sleeping last night, and it was evident by the dark bags under his eyes.

The 11 year old just lay in bed even after everyone else had left for breakfast. It was after the grandfather clock downstairs struck twelve o'clock did he move.

The boy forced his weary bones to move, and with reluctance he stood and walked toward the bathroom, planning to get ready for the day.

The brunette went downstairs after that, looking for something to eat. One of his houseparents had offered to make some late breakfast, but he had politely declined, Ben just needed a snack.

He had gladly eaten a pack of Oreos and walked back to his bunk. He looked around for his bag, meaning to at least complete the homework(s) he was supposed to hand in today. Ben grimaced when he remembered that Vice Principal Razinski had mentioned that he would call the absentees parents. But he'll cross that bridge later.

For now though, Ben needed to complete his homework, otherwise he'd get lectured _twice_.

He unzipped his bag and rummaged around, when his hand caught hold of something.

He pulled it out. It was the Sumo Slammer card that Jenny had bought for him. Thinking back, he realized he shouldn't have just left so abruptly after that battle with the dragon. Forever Knights or not, he shouldn't have done that. Jenny had accepted him into her circle of friends, had hung out with him, and even bought him a Sumo Slammer card.

Ben made a mental note to apologize to her.

Not just her, but Brad too. To be honest, what Ben really wanted to do right now, was hang out with Brad and Jenny, it was actually fun, and when he hung out with them, even for that one time, he had felt like a great deal of stress had been taken off of his shoulders.

"Maybe, tomorrow." He said to himself.

The brunette didn't feel like doing his homework. He gazed outside. Ben got up and found his housefather. "Is it OK if I go for a walk?" He asked him. His housefather, or more specifically, the housefather of every orphan at the orphanage, John nodded. "OK, but make sure not to stay out for too long. We wouldn't want you to get lost." He smiled.

Ben smiled back. "OK." The Omnitrix wielder sought John out every time he wanted to go outside, even if they weren't biologically related, John was his housefather now, and Ben liked him. Of course, he liked Ellie as well, but his housemother was way too protective of him. Ben didn't really blame her, after all he was an orphan now, and it was her sworn duty to protect him and raise him.

Ben stepped outside. He started walking towards the park, he didn't really have any money, and he wasn't planning on buying things too. Though, he had brought his bag with a water bottle and some energy bars inside. He was planning to walk around and then relax at the park.

That's what he had planned to do anyway. Instead he found himself chasing after a man as Wildmutt, an orange dog like creature with no eyes. He used the gills in the sides of his neck to 'see'. The man had stolen a lady's purse, and Ben wasn't going to let him get away with it.

Wildmutt caught up to the man easily with his superior speed and agility. The thief screamed as Wildmutt pounced on him, effectively pinning him down and making sure that he could not escape.

Wildmutt then proceeded to work on keeping the thief from escaping.

Minutes later, the orange Vulpimancer bounded towards the victim of robbery with a pink purse in his maw.

He gently put the purse down, grunted and ran off. The woman stared after him, then took her purse and called someone. "Yes, I would like to make an appointment with Professor David. Yes the therapist." She hung up and shook her head. "Fourth time this week. I think I'm going crazy."

Meanwhile, Ben had transformed back into his human form, grabbing his bag which he had hidden behind a dumpster. He sniffed it and grimaced. "Next time I should just wear the bag while transforming, instead of hiding it behind a dumpster."

But now, with the issue of the theft taken care of, Ben went to complete his personal goal of _relaxing_ for today. Maybe he should just let Jenny handle the major problems and the Police could handle thieves, criminals and whatnot.

Yup, today Ben Tennyson would be enjoying himself, and nothing was going to stop him.

He really wished he didn't jinx himself.

Hours into his relaxation at the park, the Omnitrix-wielder found himself in another predicament.

Namely, fighting Cluster Droids.

It was so sudden, he didn't really expect it. Then again, he should've, this was _Tremorton _after all. Everything wacky and weird happened here. The Cluster Droids had come out of nowhere, shooting lasers and setting things on fire. Exploding cars, destroying the road and most importantly, what had used to be a relaxing day at the park.

Ben gritted his teeth. He ducked in an alleyway and pressed the button on the Omnitrix. The core popped out and the brunette turned the dial, he'd need something to take on armies of droids, something that was durable and basically immune lasers.

There was flash of green light and a voice yelled out. "Cannonbolt!" Ben was now a roundish wide alien with orange pads on his hands, feet, head and mostly on his back. He had claws for fingers and stubby legs. Cannonbolt slammed his hands into the ground as the drones converged on him. "Let's roll." He rolled into his ball form, spinning in place to build up momentum before launching himself at the drones, leaving explosions and metal parts flying in his wake.

"Ah, the Shapeshifter. I've heard a lot about you." Cannonbolt unravelled from his ball form and looked at the Cluster general, Smytus. The robot looked pleased with himself, as if he had made sure his place as the victor was in his grasp.

"Smytus." Ben growled. "Shapeshifter, meet my friend," Cannonbolt's yellow eyes widened in surprise as he saw what Smytus was pointing at. "XJ9."

Jenny was in the middle of a giant mech like thing comprised completely out of Cluster drones, and from the looks of it, they had managed to hack her and convert her into one of their own. Cannonbolt saw that she was glowing green, and her eyes were yellow with a red outline.

He was even more surprised to see what appeared to be more robots attached to the giant mech.

"What did you do to them?" He asked. "I merely returned them to their people. Uh, robots, uh...robot people." He grunted. "The point is you won't be able to beat us this time, especially with XJ9 and her sisters on our side."

Cannonbolt readied himself. "I may be alone this time, but I've fought tougher baddies than you and your entire planet combined, all on my _own_. I'll defeat you and free Jenny, if that's the last thing I do." He boldly remarked.

Smytus grinned. "Then show me, General Smytus, what you are capable of, shapeshifter."

The mech started shooting lasers at him. Ben dodged, and rolled into his ball form, going circles around the mech. _I can't hurt Jenny and her sisters, I'll have to find another way to beat this thing._

That proved to be more challenging, and even harder to accomplish. "Aw man." Cannonbolt mumbled when he saw the mech deploy even more lethal weapons.

_This is going to be a doozy._

* * *

**_Cliffhanger, sorry but I need a little time off from writing. That's why I split this chapter into two parts. Don't worry, the next part of this chapter will be released next Thursday._** **_See ya'll later!_**


	5. Chapter Five

**_Here's chapter 5, I don't know if I should make the chapters longer or keep it at the amount it is. If it needs to be longer, then the chapters will take time to become complete, if it needs to remain at the amount it is, then there will be more frequent updates. So which one? Frequent updates or longer chapters?_**

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Suffice to say, things had gone downhill fairly quickly. Ben's timer was still ticking and he wasn't sure how long he had before he became human. To make matters worse, the Cluster mech had finally got the upper hand, pinning Cannonbolt to the road with its huge fist. Ben had struggled, but he was far less powerful when he wasn't in his ball form.

"Finally, two birds with one stone!" Smytus laughed. "I now have XJ9 and the shapeshifter within my grasp!"

"Be-Uh, I mean Cannonbolt!" Cannonbolt saw Tuck, Brad and Ms. Wakeman run towards him. He then noticed what appeared to be an eggshaped robot wearing a diaper in Ms. Wakeman's arms.

"Stay back! I've got this!" He yelled. "Doesn't seem like it." Ms. Wakeman said, but heeded his warning. "What do we do?" Brad asked her. Nora looked around her surroundings. She saw something glint in the corner of her eyes. "I've got a plan."

"Anything left to say?" The Cluster general asked smugly. "Yeah," Ben grinned defiantly. "My ride's here."

There was a flash of black steel and the mech got sent flying, its flailing arms caught Smytus and in turn, brought him with it. The two landed somewhere far away.

And not a moment to soon, as the Omnitrix started beeping. There was a flash of red light and Cannonbolt reverted back to Ben. The brunette rubbed his head as he groaned. "Thanks Ms. Wakeman." He told her. She grinned within the cabin of the crane, the wrecking ball still dangling on its ropes.

Brad helped him up. "You good?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah, but till the watch recharges, I can't transform." He showed them the red hourglass symbol.

"Well we can't just let that giant...uh, whatever that is, wreck Tremorton! What do we do?"

Ms. Wakeman climbed down from the cabin. "I've got another idea."

* * *

Smytus grumbled. He had not expected that. These humans were more pesky and annoying than he gave them credit for.

He then looked at his mech with alarm. Was it damaged? Had XJ9 and her sisters escaped?

No the mech was dented, but otherwise still functional.

"Get up you big brute. We cannot afford time to play around with the humans." He pointed at a crowd of the meat bags. "Finish them!" The Cluster mech powered by XJ9 and her sisters started shooting lazers at its targets.

* * *

Ben watched in mild amusement as Brad and Tuck fought over who gets to ride the crane. Ms. Wakeman on the other hand, was modifying the said machine, attaching XJ1 to it. There was a faint hum and the crane roared to life, only it had no apparent driver.

XJ1 giggled from the cabin as her mother watched her handiwork. "It's not perfect, but XJ1 can buy Ben enough time to recharge." She said. "Whoa, XJ1 gets to use the crane? That's not fair!" Tuck grumbled.

"Yeah, I should be riding that!" Brad said indignantly. "_No, __I_ should be riding that!"

"Boys!" Ms. Wakeman said sternly. They shut up, but still glared at each other. "What's this?" They turned around to find the towering blue and orange mech gazing at them. Smytus hovered next to its shoulder on his hover pad.

"A little guppy?" Smytus laughed. "Uh, Ms. Wakeman, not to question your smarts or anything, but can XJ1 actually fight?" Brad asked. Ben couldn't help but agree.

"Don't worry, I reprogrammed her, she should be able to fight without getting scared for now." The mad scientist assured. True to her words, XJ1 didn't even look fazed as it started attacking the mech with the wrecking ball, careful to hit the ground in front of it, not the actual mech itself, she didn't want to risk harming her sisters.

This went on for a few moments before the Cluster mech proceeded to grab the wrecking ball and pull, making the crane fall forwards.

"XJ1!" Nora shouted.

"No!" Ben gritted his teeth. A familiar sound caught his attention.

The Omnitrix had recharged.

Without hesitating, he dived in an alley while simultaneously pressing the button, and turning the dial, searching for the alien that he needed.

Meanwhile, XJ1 was now being held in the mech's grasp, Smytus proceeded to boast. "Queen Vexus will be delighted to hear that Earth is hers to command!"

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Brad threw a rock at the Cluster general, doing no harm except giving his armor a few dents. Futile as it may seem, the stubborn teenager kept throwing rocks, dirt and debris at the general until the mech smashed the ground with it's gigantic arms. Brad and the others fell onto their hands and knees due to the shockwave.

"Are we done?" Smytus asked.

Suddenly the mech froze up, and sparking sounds could be heard from within.

"What?!" The Cluster General exclaimed.

"Lost a bolt or two Smytus?" A voice called out.

Everyone present looked in shock as a tiny creature appeared on top of the mech's head.

It wore a white body suit with a black stripe going vertically down the middle, and had green eyes with horizontal pupils. Its skin was gray and the Omnitrix symbol was present on its back.

"Greymatter, at your service." The Galvan mocked as it bowed.

"XJ1, finish it." It told the eggshaped bot.

XJ1 promptly vomited oil onto Jenny's face.

The said robot coughed, and shook her head. "Eww," She looked disgusted. "Baby barf."

"Jenny!" Brad cheered. "Brad?" XJ9 then looked at the person that had caused all this. "Smytus!"

"Uh-oh." The general looked fearful as Jenny struggled against the bonds holding her.

There was a flash of yellow light and the Cluster mech seperated into Cluster drones, falling to the road.

"Whoa!" Greymatter flung his arms and legs wildly, trying to find something to grab onto.

He grunted as he landed in Jenny's outstretched palm. "Thanks." He told her.

She grinned and then looked at Smytus as he whined, "Noo! I was so close!" "Your through Smytus!" As if to add insult to injury, her sisters gathered beneath her, and the General had no choice but to retreat. He opened a portal with his hover pad. The Cluster drones immediately flew through.

"You have not seen the last of me XJ9, be forewarned that the mighty Smytus may lose a battle but never the war. I shall return and vengeance shall-" The general's monologue was cut off. "Blah, blah, blah, I've got two words for you Smytus," Jenny held up two fingers to emphasise her point. "Penalty kick." She then promptly quicked him through the portal.

"Goal!" Greymatter and Tuck cheered. Everyone gathered around her as she landed. "So is everybody OK?" She asked. "Yeah, my nervous twitch will be gone by tomorrow." Tuck stated, as his left eye started twitching.

"What about you Ben?" She looked at the Galvan in her palm. He shrugged.

Suddenly the Omnitrix started beeping and a flash of red light blinded her.

When it was over she now carried Ben in her palm. "Uh, could you put me down?" He asked. She giggled. "Sure."

"Well, I'd better head home, see you guys later." Ben grinned.

"Yeah, see ya." Jenny answered.

The Omnitrix-wielder walked off, leaving Jenny to her devices.

* * *

**Days later**

Ben laughed. "No no no nooooooo!" Tuck threw his controller to the floor. "You cheated! How did you do the finishing move?! That's impossible! No one can do it!"

"Well, guess what, _I _can," The brunette grinned. "and your just gonna have to deal with it."

"Another round, please, please, pleeeeeeeeease!" Tuck begged. "Fine." Amused, Ben got ready for another round of Sumo Slammers.

"Hey Ben," Brad called. "Need anything?"

"No, I'm fine." Ben replied then pressed two more buttons on his controller effectively killing Tuck's avatar with a special move.

"OK, me and Jen are gonna go to the mall, wanna come?" Brad said.

"Nah, Tuck and I are going to the arcade, apparently, there's a tournament there, and the winner gets the latest Sumo Slammer game." Ben answered. "Sumo Slammers, The Onslaught!" Tuck said. "The most hardcore, completely pro only game that has gore, horror and even better, action, all in one single disc."

Brad remained indifferent. "OK, I'll leave you geeks to your game." He said and walked out the front door.

"The tournament begins in one hour, let's practice some more. We haven't completely mastered our finishing moves yet." Ben said.

He and Tuck went back to their game.

* * *

"Hey Jen." Brad greeted his robotic friend. "Hey Brad." She greeted back. "Where's Ben and Tuck?"

"They're going to the arcade, there's this tournament thing or whatever, don't really care." The red head replied and the two started walking to the mall.

"Good, I, uh, need to talk to you alone." Jenny said, looking left and right.

"What about?" Her friend looked interested, when she had to tell him something that possibly no one else knows, it's probably either something dangerous or even better...something exciting, well something better than homework anyway.

"Crikey, how do I even begin?" She asked.

"Just start at the beginning Jen, we've got time." Brad assured her.

She took a completely unnecessary deep breath.

"YouknowBenlivesinanorphanagesoIfeltbadforhimandmomtoldmethatshewouldlovetoadopthimasmybrotherbutImnotsureifBenwouldlikeitsoIwantedtoknowwhatyouthink." She said, talking 500 words per minute, leaving Brad completely in the dust.

"Slow down, I don't know what you're saying." Brad told her.

She nodded. "Well, when Mom found out Ben lives in an orphanage, she felt bad for him, and wanted to adopt him. I don't know if Ben would want to, cripes, what If he doesn't want to be adopted and hates me for even wanting to adopt him?!" The thought had just crossed her mind.

"Wait, let me get this straight. You and your mom want to adopt Ben as a brother slash son?" Her redheaded friend questioned.

XJ9 nodded, unsure how her friend would react.

Brad had a blank expression on his face, then he grinned. "Well I say go for it! Even I've noticed he seems lonely," His face soured as he recalled the said situations. "maybe this might be good for him."

"Really? But I don't know how Ben's gonna take this." Jenny looked unsure, yet hopeful. It had been her mother's idea to adopt the brunette (and Jenny had made sure that her motives were pure, and not just for the sake of experimenting on Ben) and she had been on board with the idea, she was rather fond of the 11 year old.

"Just break it to him slowly, don't rush it. Hey if you wanna tell him now, he's at the arcade with Tuck." Brad suggested.

"No, I'm just not ready yet, maybe later." Jenny then proceeded to walk the last few blocks down to the mall.

Brad shrugged and followed.

* * *

"This is it Ben, this is what we've been training for our whole lives." Tuck said grimly as they entered the arcade. "Uh, pretty sure it was two, three days tops." Ben pointed out. "Hush, this is no time to overreact," Ben rose an eyebrow at that. "this is the time where we should be learning more about our opponents, and learning how to beat them." Tuck melodramatically pointed at a worker. "You there, tell me, where do people that wish to join the tournament proceed to?"

The worker sighed. "Go to the counter, I don't have time for your roleplays."

Ben gave an apologetic smile and walked with Tuck to the counter.

They signed themselves up for the tournament, and were given a team number.

"Team 16, I'd much rather prefer 10 though." Ben said.

"Come on ya slowpoke! The tournament is about to start!" Tuck practically dragged the Omnitrix-wielder to the stage, where a crowd had gathered.

"Ladies and Gentleman, the Sumo Slammer tournament has officially begun. Now I shall explain the rules to you." The host gestured at the screen behind him. "As you can see, we have divided you into 18 teams. Each team will go against the other, until two teams are remaining. Then we shall begin the final round. The game we will be playing is..." The screen flashed and began the intro of Sumo Slammers Smash.

"Sumo Slammers Smash, we shall now begin the first battle." The screen showed the first match. "Team 16 Vs. Team 12. Contestants please take your places." The host pointed toward a large screen with four controllers ready.

Ben looked at Tuck. "You ready?" He asked. Tuck nodded. "Let's win this thing!"

* * *

Brad and Jenny had just finished a shopping spree at the mall, showing off their individual items to each other.

"Hey wanna stop by at the arcade and see how Ben and Tuck are doing?" Brad looked at his friend expectantly.

"Sure, to he honest I kind of wanna see how 'pro' they are. Tuck's been insisting that they were unbeatable." Jenny shook her head fondly.

The two made their way to the arcade, only to find that a huge crowd had gathered. The duo had to force their way in, muttering apologies until finally they could see what the commotion was all about.

"Ben?" Jenny asked. "Tuck?" Brad questioned. The 11 year olds were in an intense game with two other kids and they seemed to be at a stalemate.

Brad and Jenny watched in astonishment as Ben and Tuck performed skilled, decisive and completely mastered teammoves together, and they seemed to be gaining the upper hand slowly yet surely. The other team were starting to lose their composure, making more mistakes and losing more health.

"Tuck, attack plan Fourarms." Ben told his partner. "You got it." Tuck said. Ben's character jumped in front of the other team's leader, and punched him into the air, while Tuck did the same with the other one. Together, the two slammed the other team hard into the ground, instantly knocking them out.

The crowd erupted in cheers. Ben and Tuck highfived each other. "Wow, you got to hand it to them, they're pretty good." Brad admitted as he applauded them.

"Yeah." Jenny muttered. Ben saw her and grinned, flashing her a thumbs up.

He and Tuck walked over to them, letting the next round begin. "So what do you think?" Ben asked her, smiling. "So, _geek_ am I?" Tuck sneered at his older brother.

"Fine, maybe you aren't such a geek after all. " Brad said solemnly.

"Wow Ben, I never knew you were _that _good. Crikey you and Tuck were amazing." Jenny congratulated. Ben shrugged. "I used to play with my-." He shook his head. "Never mind, so you guys going to watch? We won't be finished till 7."

Jenny looked at him skeptically, she was sure he was going to say something. Who did he play with? His parents? Jenny didn't know, but she didn't force him to tell her either, it was obviously a sore subject.

"Nah, I gotta get home, try to put some work into that Geometry homework, even if it is a complete waste of my time." Brad groaned.

Jenny was about to say something when suddenly one of her pigtails turned into a satellite dish. "Great, I've got to go stop a giant Goldfish in Scotland." "Need any help?" Ben offered. "No, I've got this."

With that, she blasted off into the air. Ben and Tuck went back to watching the next match unfold.

* * *

_Ohhhh! _Jenny thought. _How am I going to tell him? I don't want to make him feel like he has no choice in the matter. How am I even going to do that?! Crikey this was harder than I thought it would be!_ As she carried the giant goldfish off into space in an airtight fishbowl she made, she couldn't help but wonder. Would Ben even want to be adopted? Jenny didn't even know anything about his situation, for all she knew, his parents could still be alive and had neglected Ben, throwing him out of their household and disowning him, forcing him to live in an orphanage. Or he might've lost his parents in an accident and had no other relatives to look after him. Or maybe he had a relative, a cousin or aunt that didn't love him and let him live in an orphanage. She just didn't _know!_

It frustrated her. But first she had to get the giant goldfish to its destination: a planet with no landmass, just water, the perfect place for a fish.

As she reached the planet, Jenny shot the goldfish through a cannon and the orange coloured fish was soon underwater, getting to know it's new home, neighbours and food.

Jenny rocketed back to Earth with one goal in mind.

She was going to ask him. Today she was going to ask him. Whether she was ready or not.

* * *

Ben and Tuck cheered as they triumphantly held up the plastic case. They had won, the disc was theirs!!!

The two immediately rushed to the Carbunkle's residence, practically breaking the door and inserting the disc into the console.

"I can't wait to play the campaign mode. I've heard that it contains more action than Sumo Slammers Smash!" Ben fanboyed over the possible rumours he had heard about the game.

The game started. And suffice to say, they were bored with it in the first two chapters.

"Sumo Slammers Smash is much better." Tuck insisted. "Yeah." Ben agreed. "All that for this?!"

They heard the familiar sounds of jets and seconds later, Jenny walked into the living room. "Hey Jenny, what did you do with the goldfish?" Tuck asked. "Not now Tuck." She fixated her gaze on Ben, an unreadable expression on her features.

"Ben, I need to ask you something, _in_ _private_." Jenny focused the last bit towards Tuck, whom immediately looked deflated.

"Sure." The confused brunette walked outside with Jenny, and once they were out of earshot, Jenny turned to him.

"Look Ben, I don't know how you'll react to this. But," She took a few moments to calm herself then looked Ben straight in the eye as she continued. "mom and I have gone over it and well, we want to adopt you."

Ben's face showed shock. The two stared at each other for a long time, silence slowly creeping into the air.

Jenny's words still echoed in Ben's mind.

_We want to adopt you..._

* * *

**_Cliffhanger! I wrote this chapter longer than the rest, and released it as soon as I finished, as a way to make up for my sudden hiatus. Hopefully this'll be more than enough. See y'all next Thursday._**


	6. Chapter Six

* * *

* * *

**_Hey guys. How's your day going? I assume it's OK, can't really tell if it's good, nor bad. Anyways, hope this chapter satisfies your hunger! Though it may seem a bit rushed, I am sorry, I'll try to make the chapters go smoother and have more spacing between each event._**

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX**

It had been four days since Jenny had asked him. The question had been so out of the blue, so unbelievably ridiculous that Ben hadn't even thought such words would ever be uttered. Yet, she had asked. Her black pupils had bored right into his when she did. Jenny was completely serious, this wasn't a joke or some sick prank. It was sincere. And that was what made it all confusing.

Ben had told her he needed time to think about it, and had promptly run off. He had heard his name being yelled, but even so he had ran all the way home, ignoring her.

For the duration of four days, he had stayed in the orphanage, only leaving for school. He made sure he awoke early and left for school and entire hour ahead of time. The brunette had found it quite easy to dodge Tuck. Though it had cost him a week's worth of detention.

And as for Brad, the red head didn't seem to be bothered that the 11-year-old was no longer around, in fact Ben was pretty sure he was advising Jenny and Tuck to give him some space to cool off and think.

And that was exactly what Ben wanted.

As the Omnitrix-wielder stared at the underside of the top bunk, which was occupied by another orphan, he mulled over her words again.

_I don't know what to make of it! _He thought. _On one hand, I want to say yes, to be in a family again. But on the other, I feel like I'm betraying _my _family. If I join the Wakeman family, I won't be a Tennyson anymore. I...I know I have to move on, but the only thing that I have left of my old life, is my family name. If I don't get adopted I'll never move on. If I do, I will, but that's what scares me._

As his mind waged war, his eyelids seemed to be getting heavier. Soon after, his green eyes were covered and the boy started slumbering.

* * *

Jenny was starting to get worried.

She hadn't seen Ben after the _incident_. As surprising and shocking as the question was, she didn't think it could encourage a reaction such as this out of Ben. OK, that was a complete lie. Her scientific computer mind had deduced a sixty-seven percent chance of this happening. Now that Jenny thought it over, she did admit the idea was kind of silly and even a tad bit ridiculous.

But she just couldn't believe that Ben would straight up _ignore_ her. Sure she expected him to be less open and tense around her, heck, she expected him to even _despise_ her. But this, _this_ was the last-OK maybe the_ first _thing he would've done. Jenny knew she had to stop lying to herself. She couldn't just pretend everything was fine.

"Maybe I should check on him. See if he's alright." Her eyes gazed out at the night sky through her bedroom window.

She hesitated, then shrugged her shoulders. "A simple hello wouldn't hurt?"

A few second later, she was flying through the air with her pigtail jets propelling her forward, leaving jet exhaust in their wake.

The night sky was sparkling with a million diamonds, with the moon being the crown jewel, shedding a soft bluish glow and lighting up the streets below. Usually this would be enough to grab her attention, and maybe even take a quick picture and save it in her electronic diary. Her paper one had proved to be too easy to find and read, and her mother already knew a lot of her secrets due to that diary. (She even pointed out that Jenny had spelled 'infatuation' wrong, the nerve.)

But her focus was on Ben tonight. She was going to check on him, make sure he's alright, and apologise.

It _was _the least she could do.

The orphanage came into view and once again she felt a pang of sadness in her metallic core.

_It hurts seeing such a nice person like Ben live in a place like this._

She hovered above the orphanage and checked her internal clock. It was five minutes till midnight. Ben had to be asleep by now. But she couldn't wait any longer. She had to see him _now_!

Her enchanced optics, or "eyes" switched from different modes until she could see the heat signatures of the kids and house parents inside.

"The kids seem to be on the second floor." Jenny said to no one in particular and flew gracefully toward the second floor windows. She switched her eyes back to normal and looked inside. "No, not here." She said as there was no sign of Ben in the first room. There was at least seven more to go. She checked the other rooms and finally found Ben in the sixth room.

The person in question was sleeping, his bunk bed situated a few feet away from the window.

Jenny saw how peaceful and calm he looked, and she had second thoughts about waking him up.

_No, I have to do this_ tonight.

Steeling her non-existent nerves, she gently opened the window and whispered. "Ben! Ben, wake up."

The boy stirred, but didn't leave the comforts of slumber.

Deciding to take it to the "next level" she extended her right arm, and started gently shaking Ben, urging him to wake up.

"Noooo," The eleven year old moaned. "I don't wanna go to school, the teachers are no fuuuuun."

Jenny giggled. "I'll add that to my blackmail list." She shook him some more. "Noooo." The boy moaned even louder and his eyelids were pulled back as he awoke.

Rubbing his eyes, he felt something hard and cold poking him on the shoulder, and he turned his head towards it.

It was a metallic hand, and his half conscious mind could make out a blurry figure connected to it.

He tensed a bit. Hovering outside his window was Jenny. Her arm returned to it's normal size with the whir of motors and she gave a smile, waving to him.

Even though he felt awkward around her, he gave a small smile of his own and walked over to the window.

"Hi Jenny." He greeted. "It's like midnight. What's wrong?"

Jenny opened her mouth then closed it._ Cripes, what am I supposed to tell him? I can't just wake him up to tell him I'm sorry. Mom was right, I am rushing headfirst into situation after situation without thinking!_ Ben stared at her, expecting an answer.

_What do I do?_ Jenny thought frantically.

An idea popped into her head.

"Do you mind if I take you for a ride?" Ben was silent then shrugged. "OK." He answered.

Jenny transformed, she turned into a small jet with a glass cabin, which opened to let Ben in.

The brunette climbed onto the windowsill and put a leg inside the cabin. Then he shifted his weight and fell inside with a painful groan.

"I'm alright." He muttered then seated himself. A seatbelt sprang out of nowhere and he found himself sitting snugly as Jenny revved her jets, speeding off into the air.

"Where are we going?" He asked curios. "Just a quick trip around Tremorton, that's all." Jenny answered.

Ben leaned back in his seat as he enjoyed the scenery. The lull of Jenny's rockets and the coolness of the cabin were making it hard to keep awake.

"Jenny, look, I've been meaning to say I'm sorry for running away from you and hiding from you like that. It's just-" Ben started. "No, it's alright. I should've known. I'm sorry for springing that out on you like that." Jenny cut him off, and the two lapsed into silence.

It was Jenny who broke it. "It's OK if you don't want to be adopted. It's selfish of me to even ask you that. Though I hope we can still be friends."

Ben remained quiet. "Look Jenny, I know you mean well," He felt her grow uneasy. "and I know you hate seeing me live like this. But, I can't call you my friend anymore."

_Did I hear that right? _Jenny felt a wave of surprise and sadness engulf her. "Oh..." She blurted. _Jenny what have you done?! You just ruined your friendship with Ben._"It's OK, I-I'll leave you alone from now on." She felt close to tears. She was never going to be able to befriend Ben again. Great, she was both a freak _and _a jerk.

"Jenny, I can't call you my friend anymore." He repeated. The teenage robot felt a bit of anger. _I get it already! You don't have to rub it in!_ "Because you're not my friend." Ben smiled. "You're my sister."

XJ9 let it sink in. Then Ben let out a surprised yell as she did a loop de loop, nearly giving him whiplash. Jenny giggled. "Sorry, I just got too excited," She changed her course, flying back towards the orphanage. "but seriously though, Ben are you sure you want to be adopted?"

Ben looked perplexed. "Of course. I just needed time to let it sink in. Though I should've seen it sooner." He grinned.

The two talked excitedly about what they were going to do once Ben is officially apart of the Wakeman family.

Whilst Jenny was upbeat about it, Ben wasn't. He guessed Jenny saw his face somehow (he was after all, flying inside her body) and she took on a lower, concerned tone. "Hey, don't worry, we may not be perfect, but me and Mom will certainly make sure you're happy and-"

"It's not that." Jenny was perplexed. She waited for Ben to elaborate on what was "wrong" but the eleven year old didn't seem to want to speak.

Finally they reached the orphanage. Jenny started to descend and that's when he spoke. "I used to have a family y'know." He chuckled. "My mom and dad were strict and always on my case, still they were great parents. Grandpa Max was always taking us out on road trips or fishing. And Gwen, she was the most annoying and smart person I know." His expression turned from joy to a look of fury. "And that, _that_ _idiot_ had to take it all away." He sighed. "It's not that I don't want to be adopted, you and your mom are pretty decent people. It's just, if I do get adopted, I'll be moving on, giving up on my old life."

Jenny was silent during all this. Finally she spoke up. "Oh Ben, I'm sorry, if I had known-" "It's OK, I need to move on. Besides, who wouldn't want a robotic kickbutt superhero for a sister?" The eleven year old yawned.

Jenny opened the cockpit and Ben climbed onto the windowsill. He looked back at Jenny a she converted back to her original humanoid configuration.

They looked away for a few minutes. "See you tomorrow in school?" Jenny asked. Ben shook his head. "No, I'll be seeing _you_ at your house tomorrow. You _are _adopting me aren't you?"

"Ben," Jenny looked at him again. "It's OK, if you don't want to go through with this."

The Omnitrix-wielder shrugged. "I'm fine Jen, you don't need to worry." He then looked at the clock. "12:15. I should be getting to bed now."

"Yeah, me too." Jenny flew home, processing the happenings of tonight.

_I bet Mom can't wait to hear the news__. _She thought happily. _And she'll probably ground me for sneaking out at night._

* * *

The next day she informed her mother about the news, both about Ben accepting being adopted, and about Ben's old family. Sure her mother scolded her first, because she was her _mother_.

But then she chuckled. "Oh I always wondered how having a son would be like." Ms. Wakeman disappeared and reappeared with her handbag.

"Now XJ9, go to school, I'll have the legal adoption papers filled out and Benjamin will be moving here in no time!" Ms. Wakeman then saw the downcast look on her daughter's face. "What's wrong XJ9? I thought you wanted Benjamin to live with us?"

As her mother sat down next to her on the sofa, Jenny let out a sigh. "It's just that, Ben looks so lonely y'know? And well, I _want_ to have him as my little brother. But, what if it really pains him to be a part of _our _family?" Ms. Wakeman understood what her daughter was trying to say.

"Don't worry XJ9, Benjamin did tell you that he was OK with us being his new family. Besides, I can't help but think we're doing him a favour." Jenny looked at her, confused. "You see XJ9, if Benjamin doesn't accept being part of a _new _life. Then he won't be able to let go of his _old _life. He won't be able to let go of the grief."

This seemed to calm her down, as Ms. Wakeman could clearly see her tense shoulders loosening. "Now mommy is going to fill out the legal papers, and you and Bradley had better go to school now." Her mother walked out the front door and seconds later, Jenny could head her car leaving the driveway.

The teenage robot finally got off the sofa, locked the doors and found Brad waiting for her on the sidewalk.

"Ready for today's pop quiz Jen?" The redhead asked her. "More or less." Jenny shrugged. "You didn't learn?" Brad questioned then shrugged. "Of course you didn't, you've got the internet at your disposal."

Jenny was pondering whether or not to tell Brad about the news.

_Maybe I'll tell him at lunch, better yet, I'll keep it a surprise._

"Where's Tuck?" The sixteen year old just realized that her friend's little brother was missing. "Oh, I dropped him off early today, turns out, he's trying to 'infuriate' his teachers for giving him a C."

"What?!" Jenny exclaimed. "Don't worry about it," Jenny was about to retort when Brad finished. "We've got our parents for that."

The two reached the front doors and stepped into school grounds. Jenny made her way to her locker and put some of her books away, while grabbing some papers and textbooks for her first class.

"See you at lunch." Her friend told her and rushed off.

"Yeah, see you." That's when her internal alarm went off, and she groaned. "What now?" She called home, and was thoroughly informed of the situation. "A flock of peacocks terrorizing downtown. Another great start to a beautiful day." The teenager grumbled.

* * *

When lunch time had rolled around, Jenny still found herself plucking feathers from her body. As usual, she ordered a can of Synthoil from the cafeteria and sat down next to Brad who was struggling to eat a cement like stake.

"Wanna switch?" He offered.

Jenny watched in amusement as Brad fought to eat the "uneatable cow meat" as she drank her can of oil.

"So, did you do it?" XJ9 looked at Brad with a perplexed expression. "Did I do what?"

The teenage boy set his plastic fork and knife down. "Did you ask Ben about y'know?"

She realized what he was asking. _Crikey he wants to know if I asked Ben or not. I was _trying _to surprise him, but he's _BRAD _he'll find out eventually, better to tell him now than later._

"As a matter of fact, I did." Jenny answered. "So, what did he say?" The redhead looked at her with a mix of excitement and concern.

"Ben's going to be my brother." She wasn't surprised when Brad whispered "I knew it."

"Mom's filling out the legal issues right now. By her 'estimate' Ben should be living with us starting from tomorrow."

The bell sounded, and they had to get to their next class. "See ya after school Jen." Brad waved goodbye. She returned the expression.

* * *

Ben couldn't focus on the teacher. His mind was too occupied with the fact that _today_ Ms. Wakeman was going to officially adopt him. He had better start packing as soon as he got home.

_And I need to say goodbye to Sam, the other orphans and my house parents._

He was going to miss them, that was for sure. He briefly wondered if every orphan felt this way, sad that they were leaving the care and comfort of their foster parents. Ben knew it would be hard leaving the orphanage, for multiple reasons.

"MR. TENNYSON!!" The brunette was so startled, his textbook and pencils cluttered onto the floor. "Y-yes Mr. William?" He timidly stared at his easily irritable teacher, whom was giving him a look that could _kill_.

"Would you care to solve this equation for me?" He asked. Ben gulped, stepped over his belongings on the floor, and walked over to the blackboard.

He took the chalk Mr. William gave him and looked at the equation. Relief flushed over him as he realized he actually _knew _the answer. He had gone through his entire Math textbook as Greymatter, and he still remembered most of the answers.

The class snickered at his misfortune. His teacher seemed to be enjoying this as well. The young hero grinned. That was going to change.

With confidence and lack of doubt, he moved the chalk on the blackboard, graceful strokes completing the number 10 onto it.

The class waited with baited breath, wondering if they were going to see him get yelled at. But to their amazement, the teacher merely told Ben to sit down and not "play around with his imagination".

The class stared at him in disbelief. Ben glared at them defiantly. "What? Surprised?"

* * *

Strange, that was what Jenny was thinking. Her monitors hadn't blazed an alarm for ages, and her mother was busy.

She could tell something was off when she entered the house.

It was _empty_, there were no sounds from the lab, no notification that told her that a tsunami was going to destroy New York.

"Peaceful." That was what was wrong with this picture. "Everything's too peaceful."

She whooped and immediately hoarded cans of oil and computer chips climbed into bed and took out the latest issue of _Teen Yak_ and started reading.

Five minutes into the magazine, there was a beep and her right pigtail transformed into a cellphone. She answered. "Hello?" "Hey Jen, it's me Brad, listen if your not busy, Tuck, Ben and I are going to the skatepark down by the mall, wanna join?"

"I'm on my way." The cellphone reverted back to her pigtail, and she ran out the front door towards the skatepark.

She found them already skating, well not Ben, whom just sat to the side and watched as Tuck did a flip and land on his face.

"Hey Jenny." He greeted. "Why aren't you skating?" The teenage robot questioned.

Ben shrugged. "I wanted to use XLR8, but Tuck said that since he couldn't go 500 miles per hour, it wasn't fair."

Jenny giggled. "That's what he told me as well."

Either way, they didn't follow Tuck's wishes and had fun. (Not Tuck, whom sat to the side as he watched Ben and Jenny trying to outrace each other)

Jenny smiled. She watched as Ben did a backflip on one of the ramps. She could tell that Ben was enjoying himself, and she was too.

_Tomorrow I won't be an only child anymore. Tomorrow, I'm going to have a brother._ She thought as she gazed at Ben.

* * *

**_I TRIED MY BEST DUDES. This is what I came up with. The reason I'm updating quicker than normal is because I won't be able to update for a long time starting from 1st January. Review and tell me your thoughts about this story._**


	7. Chapter Seven

**_*Sigh* I am really sorry to say, that I had writer's block, that's why I was editing past chapters (3-6) and fixing typo's and grammatical errors. Hopefully, _this _time such things won't exist_**

* * *

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

"Can I open my eyes yet?"

"No."

"But I've seen your house already!"

"No."

There was a sigh of acceptance. Ben inwardly felt a bit excited. If Jenny won't let him see the house yet, it probably means something major was going on.

He heard loud bangs and thuds, followed by yells and scampering of feet. "Let me guess, Brad and Tuck are here as well. There's no one else in the world that argues that much." Ben grinned as he heard the two arguing with each other. "Guys!" Jenny groaned, but it was already too late.

Finally, Jenny's cold metal fingers uncovered his eyes, and the eleven year old looked in shock at the mansion that he thought he had seen before.

The outside was covered with streamers and a big banner had the words "Welcome home Ben!" emblazoned in a glittering green colour, along with small happy emojis next scattered around it.

"Wow, I-I didn't expect _this_." Ben's heart skipped a beat. "You really shouldn't have done all this." Ben muttered, his face was red, and he avoided their gazes.

"Seriously, not even a thank you?" Brad and Jenny crossed their arms, staring at him with fake disappoinment. This made him stutter. "Uh, I wasn't...I mean I-it's not b-bad but you guys...this wasn't..." He gave up and mumbled a "thank you".

Brad and Jenny winked at each other whilst Tuck grabbed Ben by the hand and started pulling him inside the house. "Wait till you see the inside. Of course as you can see, the highlight of the decorations is my Omnitrix design as you can see." Tuck insisted, pointing at a crudely yet somehow artistic looking Omnitrix insignia hanging from the ceiling.

"So, how are you feeling?" Brad asked his best friend. "Nervous, excited and strangely calm." Jenny shrugged. "Mom's not home yet, she had some urgent business to take care of in space," She chuckled. "Ben really dodged a bullet there, if Ms. Wakeman had been here when he arrived, hoo boy." The redhead agreed.

The teenagers then proceeded to walk inside, giving Ben a tour of his new home.

* * *

"And this is your bedroom." Jenny opened the door to a comfortable and spacious room, already occupied by a bed, closet, bathroom and a sturdy desk.

Ben's mind was still reeling from the tour, he had been rushed from room to room by Jenny, who seemed to have forgotten that Ben wasn't as fast as she was (at least, not in his human form) and Ben had literally flown for the entire duration of the tour.

"So, how do you like it?" The teal blue and white robot asked, looking at him with huge black pupils. "It's amazing. But can I sit down now?" To be honest, the brunette was still dizzy, and after saying that, he promptly fell to the floor, already exhausted by virtually doing nothing.

The two was interrupted by the ringing of Brad's cellphone. "It's my dad." He announced as he accepted the call. There was chatter on the other end, and Brad replied with "yes", "no" and "why".

Sighing, he put the cellphone away, looked at them apologetically while holding onto Tuck. "Sorry guys, my dad wants to take us to visit my aunt." He gripped Tuck firmly as the boy yelled "NO! Not Aunt Sandra. Her fudge cake nearly killed me!" "Let's go Tucker." Brad mumbled angrily, carrying him, literally kicking and screaming outside.

"So, now that we have the whole house for ourselves..." Jenny dragged a fatigued Ben downstairs to the living room. "What are we doing now?" He asked. Jenny sat him down by the couch, turned the TV on and switched channels. The screen now showed the beginning intro of a horror movie. "We, dear brother of mine, are watching the greatest horror movie of all time." She said enthusiastically, sitting down next to him on the sofa while her Stretchy arms deactivated the lights.

"Aw man." Ben grumbled. "Why does it have to be a clown?!" "Let me guess, you hate clowns." Jenny said while tearing open a bag of Computer Chips.

"I've had my fair share of clowns." He shuddered as he remembered Zombozo. "Well, you'd better be ready. This is all about clowns." Jenny grinned.

* * *

As the end credits rolled onto the screen, Jenny yawned and stretched, bringing her idling motors back online. "Wow that was one heck of a movie."

She got no response. Perplexed, she looked at her brother, only to find him dozing comfortably on the couch.

Smiling pleasantly, Jenny carried her new adopted brother to his room and set him down on the bed. She pulled the covers upto his chest and switched off the lights. "Goodnight Ben." Jenny whispered as she silently closed the door.

Alarms blared from her monitors a few minutes later, signalling a catastrophic earthquake happening somewhere on the globe. Jenny sped off into the air via her pigtail jets, deploying her boosters and wings for a burst of speed.

* * *

**_I know, I know, this is beyond short. It's uncanny and shouldn't even account for a chapter. But I MIGHT not be able to update for a long while. I might update this chapter, elongate it maybe or begin a new chapter. But that's all in due time. If worse comes to worse, I won't be able to update for 10 months. If my luck changes (which it rarely does, FYI) I might update on Fridays and Saturdays. I'm going to miss updating, I can tell you that. Check my profile to see if I'm online. See you amazing readers later!_**


	8. New Story

**_Hey guys, I'll be posting a new update soon, but till then, here's a little something to keep you entertained._**

**_I published a new fanfiction, that is mostly about Ben and Jenny's escapades as siblings. It contains short fluffy one shots mostly._**

**Our Lives As Siblings**

**Summary: Just some short stories about Ben's adventures with his new family. This story is related to my other one, My Life with an Alien Brother, but doesn't follow the timeline. Read and enjoy.**


	9. Chapter Eight

* * *

**_Hey guys, sorry for the long absence. To summarise I had to decide on a few things while fighting both writers block and Factorization and Algebra at the same time. Not only that, but everytime I sit down to write, I'm so exhausted and drained both mentally, physically and maybe even spiritually (Don't worry, I don't have depression or anything like that, for now) so I fall asleep. But here we are._**

* * *

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Ben coughed as dust rained from the ceiling. With a grunt, he used his four arms to bring himself to his feet, getting ready for another round with the criminal inside the mechanized power suit.

"With this suit, I have enhanced myself beyond you. You may have four arms. But I have two with the strength of twenty-two thousand six-hundred and seventy-eight men. You can't beat me." The criminal sneered, showing of his toothless grin and scarred face.

Fourarms smirked. He ran at his opponent and punched him with all of his arms, sending him flying. Before the mechanized villain could react, he was hefted into the air. "I might be able to defeat you with a serious amount of work. But she could do it with just one flick of her finger." Ben mocked. The villain now faced XJ-9, who smiled and said: "The hard way, or the easy way?"

Her opponent frowned. "I, the great Jeff will not be defeated easily. I choose the hard way!" Jeff stated.

Jenny sighed. She looked at Ben, who shrugged. The motion was very weird and funny in his Tetramand form, and Jenny had to hold back a snicker. She was supposed to be threatening here. With a sigh, the teenage robot turned back to Jeff and held up one finger. Jeff stared at her with indifference, until she flicked her finger and broke of the power suit. His clothes were torn away too, and he was left wearing nothing but his underpants.

Jeff yelped and covered himself with his hands. Jenny shook her head. "Couldn't take the easy way out could you?"

* * *

Ben, now in his human form fished a few dollars out of his pocket. He handed them to the cashier and took the smoothie, staring at it. "OK, first taste of Grasshopper smoothie." He closed his eyes and sucked the straw, the green liquid entered his mouth and he gently tasted it.

"Whoa, this is way better than the Watermelon Burst." He says as he sits down next to Jenny in the mall.

Brad and Tuck are with her, along with one other person he had never met. A little skeptical and curios, he stared at the gangly teen wearing a white shirt beneath a maroon jacket. He looked American and Japanese at the same time, with freckles (or were they birthmarks?) and black hair. He had on a goofy and dreamy look as he stared at Jenny with lovesick eyes.

"Hey Jen, who's this?" Ben questioned. His sister looked at the goofy nerd and smiled. "Oh, I forgot. Ben, Sheldon, Sheldon, this is my brother Ben."

At that, Sheldon spit out his soda, coughing and trying to say something. "You have a _brother?!_" He questioned. "When?! How!?"

Jenny rolled her eyes. "Gee, Sheldon, I didn't think I needed to ask you if I could adopt a brother or not. What's the matter anyway?"

"Adopted?" Sheldon seemed even more uncomfortable now. "What's the matter? Jenny, if your not careful, he might backstab you the first chance he gets. I mean, do you even know him?! He's not even related to you or your mother! For all we know, he could be a spy from the Cluster or, or some weird organization!"

Jenny glared at him. "Sheldon, you don't know Ben like I do, he won't do any of that. He's too nice a person to do that. Besides, his saved my life more times than I could count." Jenny argued.

"I'm just saying to be caref-"

"No you're not. You don't trust him."

"Well if thats the case, then I don't."

Ben watched them. He glanced at Brad and Tuck for support. Brad mouthed "_Back away slowly_" and indicated towards a nearby arcade. Tuck on the other hand, urged them on, enjoying every last moment of it.

The brunette knew that it was up to him to solve this mess. With a toughened resolve, he stepped between them and pushed them away from each other. Well he pushed Sheldon away, he couldn't even budge the six-hundred pound Jenny.

"Enough."

The two looked at him. Jenny's stern look faded, and she looked apologetic. Sheldon only crossed his hands and stared at him with a suspicious look.

Ben let out a hand. "My name's Ben, Ben Tennyson."

Sheldon considered, and even if a bit forced, he shook Ben's hand. "Sheldon Lee."

"So, you into video games?" Ben asked, glancing at the arcade. He was hoping to get a conversation going then, he could prove that he meant no harm to Jenny or anyone else for that matter.

"Depends," Sheldon seemed to have understood. "wanna go to the arcade?"

Ben nodded. "We'll be back in a few minutes." He told the others. With that, he set his focus on Sheldon. Ben was going to prove that he was trust able, but he knew it wasn't going to be easy. From what he could make out from the short time he had been with Sheldon, the teenager obviously disliked him.

Sheldon took a cautious glance at Ben. _I will find out who you are Ben Tennyson_. The nerd thought. Sheldon gave Ben a look over and his eyes stopped at the boy's wrist. Sheldon was immediately fascinated by the watch like device that he was wearing. _I bet that's your high tech Cluster communicator. Or something to hack Jenny with. Well you won't be able to do anything to _**MY** _Jenny_.

* * *

Sheldon had to admit, Ben was impressive at video games.

The two had started playing Sumo Slammers Smackdown and currently Ben was in the lead with 20 to 17.

"I've got you!" Sheldon exclaimed, thinking that he had trapped Ben inside the quicksand pit, but to his astonishment, Ben pulled off a dodge slam and he was yet again defeated.

Ben laughed. "You almost got me there." He said good naturedly. Sheldon was about to compliment him on his game skills, but remembered what they were doing here.

With a huff he turned around, his arms crossed. "You got lucky."

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Ben's face fall. The sight pained him for some reason, but his resolve still held strong. "Oh, how about we meet up with Jenny and the others and go to Mezmers or something?" Ben suggested.

"Fine by me." Sheldon walked past him with a dramatic flare-

-only to he sent flying by an explosion.

"Sheldon!" He heard his name being shouted, and seconds later he could feel Ben hoisting him up and away from the danger.

"What happened?" The nerd asked. His head spun and his stomach was sloshing around with a weird feeling.

"Stay here." Ben gently put Sheldon down by the wall away from prominent danger and life threatening situations. Sheldon shook his head fiercely, shaking away the spots in his eyes and the ringing in his ears. He saw the retreating figure of Ben and ran after him even if he was a bit shaken by the blast.

"Ben!" He cried out. "Where are you going?"

The eleven year old didn't stop, and Sheldon turned the corner to see a peculiar sight.

Ben was crouched behind a wall, fiddling with his watch. Then, before Sheldon could react, there was flash of emerald light and when it died down, Ben was no longer, well _Ben_. Instead, he had green crystalline skin and his body seemed to be made of crystals. He had yellow eyes and there were shards of crystal poking out of the back of his head and his backside.

"Diamondhead!" He yelled.

Sheldon yelped, and his heart skipped a beat as the human-turned-alien glanced at him.

They stared at each other in shock. "Uh, this isn't what it looks like." Ben started, but thought better of it.

"Sorry Sheldon, I have to save those people." With that, the crystalline alien ran past him and vanished around the corner.

The fifteen year old shook his head. "Oh I am not letting you out of my sight!"

* * *

Brad ducked beneath his makeshift cover that was actually a table. He was glad Tuck had made it out of there safe, but right now he himself couldn't do so, as stray lasers and crystal projectiles flew around dangerously.

Cautiously he poked his head out. Jenny was using her Sheiva swords to slice apart millions of drones, while Diamondhead was using his projectiles and..._was that Sheldon running into the fight?_

Without thinking, Brad jumped out of cover and dashed for his friend, dodging blasts of lasers, debris and crystal shards.

The redhead lunged and sent then both tumbling to the side, thankfully away from danger.

"Get off of me Brad!" Sheldon pushed him off. "What were you thinking rushing into the fight like that? Sure that's something _I _would do. But you?" Brad said, using his hands to stress out his point.

"It's important! Jenny's brother isn't human. He's-he's some kind of freaky monster thing-!" Brad sighed. Well, he figured it was time for Sheldon to know. Brad made a mental remainder to get his coffin ready if he survived this. He wasn't sure how much more yelling he could endure.

"We know, I know, Jenny knows, Ms. Wakeman knows and even Tuck knows." Sheldon stared at him with a horrified expression. "But you didn't tell me?"

"No, it's just, we haven't seen you since you went to visit your aunt in the hospital, and Jenny didn't want to bother you. We were going to tell you! But you were in some hurdles of your own." Brad quickly stated.

Sheldon didn't seem to calm down. "You could've called at least! A simple 'hello' to your friend wouldn't hurt would it?" Sheldon questioned, throwing his arms into the air to emphasise his point.

He shook his head. "You know what? Forget it," Brad stared at him stunned. "What?" "I said forget it. If you guys can't trust me to keep a secret, then why trust me at all? I'm through."

With that, he ran away, the sounds of battle still raging on behind him.

* * *

**_I know I know, it's short, VERY short, but I need to get something up at least, just to prove that I haven't given up yet. Anyways I'll the next chapter up in a couple of days/weeks/months. Cya guys._** **_Also that Jeff character was just me fooling round to get my motivation up. it worked immensely. XD_**


	10. Replying to Comments 1

As you can very well guess, I am replying to my readers!

Jdlfred: Thanks!

Guest (BS): Hehe, I wanted to use upgrade as well, but realized that Upgrade _was _capable for doing that, but wanted to take something less obvious. Still it was a pretty good guess though!

Guest (Great-Questioner): Yes I know, I really don't have much time to complete the chapter at it's own pace. I still try though, and hopefully this won't be a problem we face in the future!

Finalcool720: Glad you're enjoying! And as for your second comment, hopefully I'll be updating pretty soon so definitely look forward for more!

Gamelover41592: Well you're half correct at the Uncle and Aunt thing. I _did_ forget, but I _was _going to add them into the story at some point. I forgot to jot it down in my notes. As for your second comment, what could've made you go Wow like that? If I actually blew your mind and you liked my writing Thanks! But if I didn't that means I have a lot of work ahead of me!

Guest (No name available): The idea is amazing, but sadly there are a few complications. First of all, I haven't played Red Dead Redemption 2, sure I've heard of it yes, but I don't even know what it's about. And second, I don't know if _want _to do it. I am really sorry, but Red Dead Redemption is out of my interest. The idea is awesome but, I am not the author suitable for the job. Check my profile and you'll know what cartoons/games I write. Again I am really sorry.

**_Also guys I have an announcement to make. Those of you who loves to draw, I am giving y'all a challenge. You can draw fanart but you have to credit me for the idea of the story. And I'll select the best three amongst you. First place gets one character added to the story, be it an alien or villain. Second place gets to add chapter ideas of their own in Our lives As Siblings. And third gets a shoutout on both books. Hope to see some awesome drawings. PM me when you want to show me._**


	11. Note

**_Hey dear readers. I'm really, really sorry. I haven't updated in a while, and you'd think that with all this Virus thing I'd have more time to write since I'm stuck at home. But I still have online education and it's definitely taking up my time. I'm going to have to take a break for a few weeks or months. At least until COVID 19 blows over. Don't worry, I might sneak in a few chapters, but I can't promise you that I'll be active regularly. I regret doing this, really I do. But I promise you that, even if it takes me 10 years or more, I'll keep writing cause it's my passion._**

**_-Agent XJS10 signing off for now._**


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